This invention relates to the prevention or limitation of shoreline or coastal erosion due to wave action, and more particularly, to an erosion control system using an array of blocks chained together by connecting members and placed on the surface of an embankment in the water generally parallel to the shoreline.
Shoreline erosion is a major threat to coastal areas where large land masses are exposed to the continual pounding of the ocean wavefronts. While this problem is of concern to any country having significant coastline, the problem is particularly acute in island nations, such as Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Numerous systems have been proposed to prevent erosion at the interface of water and land.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,222 (Jansson et al.) discloses an articulated mat comprising concrete blocks arranged in a rectangular and flexible grid. Each block has the shape of an elongated cube and has a hole centrally disposed therethrough enabling each block to be readily removed from a form used for casting each block.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,504 (Whitman et al.) Discloses an underwater erosion control system having primary elements that are equilateral triangles having truncated tips, each side of the triangle having a truncated, conically-shaped aperture disposed at the midpoint thereof. A link has truncated, conically-shaped ends that secure two abutting primary elements together, maintaining a fixed distance between the primary elements.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,705 (Atkinson) discloses an articulated erosion control system of lock blocks and key blocks, which enable the blocks to be interlocked together without extraneous connectors. The lock blocks have a generally hexagonal shape, with cylindrical grooves in alternating sides thereof, and the key blocks comprise a central locking hub from which extend three separately spaced-apart locking arms.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,279,536 (Jarlon) discloses a breakwater disposed upon a rubble mound. Each block includes marginal partial ducts on the four side surfaces that form ducts with some adjacent blocks or intermeshed engagement with the adjacent blocks. The breakwater includes an armor capping of blocks having interlocking surfaces disposed therebetween.
While these systems and others like them have generated much discussion and interest, none have provided a satisfactory solution.
What is needed is an integrated armor cladding mounted onto an embankment, the cladding having a high wave energy dissipation rate. An integrated armor structure is needed that can be advantageously used for redirecting and redistributing hydrodynamic forces caused by pounding seawater on an embankment, by cladding the embankment with the armor layer.
The integrated armor structure will resist movement of the blocks relative to each other by the use of connecting members disposed between each pair of adjacent blocks in the chain.